Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage

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This is the old way I learned to make the Hungarian favorite. Tedious to make but well worth it, so make enough to last a few days. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

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  • 6
  • Average
  • 45 mins
  • 90 mins
  • Average budget

Ingredients

  • 1 large head of cabbage
  • FILLING:
  • 1 1/2 pounds of ground steak
  • 1 pound of fresh pork sausage
  • 1 c. uncooked rice (to yield 2 cups of cooked rice)
  • 1 large onion chopped small
  • 3 eggs
  • pepper to taste
  • SAUCE:
  • Combine,
  • 1 large 28 ounce can of chopped stewed or regular tomatoes
  • 2- 15 ounce cans tomato sauce
  • Another chopped onion
  • 1 stalk of celery, chopped
  • 1 t. paprika
  • pepper to taste
  • 2 T. of sugar (to counteract the tomato acid)

Preparation

Step 1

Start by boiling the cabbage head in a very large pan of water for approximately 30 minutes. Lower the eat to a gentle boil. This is tricky and depends on the size of the cabbage, as you do not want to overcook or your cabbage leaves will fall apart on you. You can remove the outer leaves and return to the boiling water if the interior leaves are still fairly stiff.

Step 2

Prepare your filling by combining the ground meats, the onion, pepper, the cooked rice and the eggs.You'll have to use your hands to thoroughly mix this. There's no way around it.

Step 3

Remove partially cooked cabbage leaves by cutting loose near the core. Carefully remove all that easily come loose. If the center leaves are still stiff, return to the boiling water for another 10 minutes or so. You want to end up with about 25 nice leaves to work with.

Step 4

Take each leaf and cut out most of the white tough membrane that goes down the middle of each leaf, starting at the core side. Leave some of the narrow parts of this as you don't want to cut your leaf into two pieces. Just go down one side of it and cross over, cutting the other side of it out.

Step 5

Now, here comes the fun part. Take about a small handful of the filling and place in the center on the core side. Begin to roll towards the outer part of the leaf, folding the sides in as you go. When you get to the end, gently push your thumbs into each end of the roll to keep it rolled.

Step 6

Place about 2 cups of the prepared sauce in the bottom of your tall baking dish or pan. Arrange your rolls in the pan and stack them until all are used. Carefully pour remaining sauce over all. Cover with foil or lid to keep from browning too much. Bake at 350 degrees for about 2 hours.

Step 7

ENJOY!

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